Will starting early keep your face looking fresher for longer? Or could it make you appear older?
Have you ever questioned why some faces age at a snail’s pace? Of course, great skincare, genetics, and environmental factors play a part. But – when performed discretely – so-coined ‘preventative’ injectable tweakments can do, too. Indeed, while cosmetic neuromodulators like Botox, Alluzience, Azzalure, or Bocouture are traditionally associated with relaxing muscles to reverse the appearance of lines, they are also regularly employed in anticipation of wrinkle formation.
Preventative anti-wrinkle injections involve using Botox or similar products to prevent the formation of lines and wrinkles, rather than in a corrective way once lines and wrinkles are already established when treatment is often less successful.
Who the experts say preventative toxin injections are for
Neuromodulators work to relax the muscles that crease the skin, and when you have enough repeated creasing, you’ll get lines. Therefore, If we relax some overly expressive muscles, we get less skin creasing and prevent lines from forming as quickly (or potentially at all). The goal is not to completely freeze the muscles but to mellow them.
Preventative toxin injections are best suited to someone who is very likely to get deep, or a lot of, wrinkles. How can you tell if this will be the case? This can be someone who can see their mother or other family member has a deep or an excessive number of expression lines. Also, very expressive faces tend to get more lines and get them earlier, as will thinner, finer skin (as opposed to thicker, oilier skin).
It’s not about age; rather, it depends on the individual’s skin condition. However, there would only be exceptional cases where the use of Botox or similar would be indicated under the age of 25. It’s pointless for anyone whose lines are not visible yet and those with more established lines and wrinkles – they would follow a corrective and not a preventative approach.
The benefits of preventative toxin injections, according to the experts
If you are suitable for preventative treatments, the benefits are plain to see: You will age with fewer lines and wrinkles. It’s much easier to prevent than to correct.
Dr. Luis suggests thinking of it this way: “If you imagine a sheet of paper that gets crumpled up, it’s much harder to smooth out if it is scrunched up into a ball – it would be much easier to simply not crumple it quite so much in the first place.” However, preventative toxin injections should always be approached on a case-by-case basis. “The delicate thing to balance here is choosing the appropriate time for you, your skin, and your face.”
"It's much easier to prevent than to correct."
Dr Luis adds that another critical benefit of preventative anti-wrinkle injections is the subtleness. “If someone has always had ‘good skin’ and seems to be aging more slowly, a lot of us will put it down to them winning the genetic lottery, but it may be that they started some light Botox earlier than their peers. If, however, someone who looked fatigued for much of their 30s suddenly looks as fresh as a daisy, you’re going to think that they probably had a helping hand.”
The downsides of preventative toxin injections, according to the experts
For something promising to maintain a youthful aesthetic, preventative toxin injections can – ironically – have the reverse effect. “I think that heavy Botox from a young age makes people look older,” says Dr Luis. “An early start and heavy-handed approach can leave a face looking frozen over time.”
“I think there is a definite danger to becoming accustomed to a face that moves less and less,” adds Dr Luis. “The idea of what is normal can change, and heavy use of neuromodulators can age a younger face, resulting in an odd or distorted appearance.”
Also, he says that specific areas, such as the frontalis muscle, may not be suitable for heavy treatment in the longer term. “This is the muscle that raises your eyebrows and creates the horizontal lines across your forehead. As eyebrows drop downwards with age, over-relaxing this muscle may contribute to further or more rapid drooping of the brows over time. To begin with, this would be a particular concern in someone with hooded eyelids or low-set brows.” Dr Luis explains that because preventative toxin injections are a relatively new phenomenon, more research must be done. “We don’t have a load of 70-year-olds having micro-dosed and personalized Botox to check they turned out all right.” But, he adds, “I do think if you attend an expert, you minimize the possibility of looking extraordinary 10 or 20 years down the line.”
Another practical downside to taking a preventative route is the cost. “Good toxin injections are not cheap – and cheap toxin injections are usually not good!” adds Dr Luis, “and sacrificing decent, medical grade skincare or a good SPF that you wear daily is not the way to shoehorn it into your budget.” He explains that preventive injectables typically start in your 20s, “when you may or may not be able to add this into your skincare financials.”
Other things to consider before having toxin injectables for preventative reasons
“Botox isn’t meant to remove all expression, just to soften it,” says Dr Luis, “a frozen face is not the goal – youthful faces move!”. So, if you’re considering preventative treatments, you want to ensure you’re with a practitioner who can help you achieve your personal goals while maintaining a natural appearance.
“You must see someone that is properly qualified (doctor, dentist, or nurse prescriber, depending on which country you are in), obviously, but you also want to go to someone that ‘gets’ your look and what is going to work well for you,” says Dr. Luis. “They should be able to tell you if they think something will not fit you well.”
Ensure you’re doing it for the right reasons, too. “Filters and Facetune are ubiquitous in social media, so it’s easy to forget that no one looks perfect; skin has pores, people have under-eye areas that aren’t smooth, and this is all normal,” says Dr Luis. If you chase perfection, you will likely never be content.
Alternative ways to prevent wrinkle formation
Lifestyle
“Eating a nutrient-dense diet and avoiding too much sugar, alcohol, smoking, stress, and sun exposure are the foundations of healthy skin,” says Dr Luis.
He feels that this will stand you in good stead as you age. “I believe restoring skin health, keeping it hydrated and with a strong matrix of healthy muscles behind it is the key to future-proofing the skin.” As well as the healthy living basics (obtaining enough sleep, exercise, water, and balanced nutrition), eating organic produce, consuming more omega-3, cutting out processed foods, and reducing stress, “which is linked to the skin’s barrier function.”
Skincare
Regarding skincare, sunscreen is Dr Luis’s top tip to all: “SPF50 every day.” In addition, he says, “If you use products and treatments aimed at stimulating collagen, these will keep your collagen levels higher and mean that you’re less likely to develop wrinkles.” Ingredients like retinol, vitamin C, niacinamide, and peptides are key here.
Treatments
Regarding professional services that don’t involve injections, Dr. Luis feels that “in-clinic treatments can nurture the skin and help to prevent premature aging by stimulating collagen production.” Below are his favorite professional treatments for preventing skin aging.
Thermage FLX: This non-invasive, high-powered radiofrequency treatment targets the tissue under the skin, triggering collagen production.
The Collagen Wave: This is another collagen-stimulating treatment whereby radiofrequency and ultrasound waves heat the skin, encouraging fibroblasts to produce new collagen and elastin. “It’s non-ablative, meaning there’s no downtime from it, so you could have the treatment and go out that evening.”
Mesotherapy: “This is an alternative to filler and wrinkle-relaxing injections, working to hydrate the skin to give a plumping effect by infusing a cocktail of vitamins into the epidermis. The micro-injections will also activate collagen synthesis, firming and toning the tissues while rehydrating skin.”